Nick Mathews is a trial lawyer and a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas office, where he is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. He represents leading technology companies in high-stakes patent litigation and has significant experience trying complex patent cases in federal courts across the country, particularly in the Eastern District of Texas, at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), and before the Federal Circuit, with particular depth in standard essential patent (SEP) and FRAND disputes.
Nick has extensive trial experience in major patent disputes. Nick recently secured a complete defense verdict as lead counsel for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Ericsson, and Nokia in a consolidated patent trial brought by Celerity IP and ASUS related to cellular essential patents. The jury rejected more than $400 million in claimed damages, found every asserted claim not infringed and invalid, and found that the plaintiffs had acted in bad faith under the ETSI IPR Policy. Before that, Nick won back-to-back defense verdicts in the Eastern District of Texas for T-Mobile and AT&T against Daingean Technologies.
At the ITC, Nick has served as trial counsel at several hearings, including as lead counsel for Ericsson in defending a Section 337 investigation brought by Lenovo.
Nick’s earlier trial victories include the successful defense of Ericsson in the first breach-of-FRAND jury trial, brought by HTC over the licensing of cellular essential patents, and a $75 million willful-infringement verdict for Ericsson against TCL that the court enhanced to a judgment of more than $110 million.
Nick is ranked by Chambers USA for intellectual property litigation in Texas and ranked Gold in Texas by IAM Patent 1000, and he has been named to the IAM Strategy 300 and the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America. Clients describe him as “an excellent oral advocate.”
Previously, Nick clerked for Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, during the judge's first year on the bench.
Nick is a registered practitioner before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He has prosecuted patents and has handled inter partes review proceedings.
Representative Matters
- Celerity IP v. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (Ericsson and Nokia, intervenors). Secured a complete defense verdict as lead counsel for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Ericsson, and Nokia in a consolidated 5G patent jury trial in the Eastern District of Texas. Celerity’s campaign began with eight patents and claims to tens of billions of dollars; at trial, it sought $436 million on three patents. The jury found no infringement, invalidated all nine asserted claims, and awarded no damages. It also found that Celerity and ASUS had acted in bad faith under the ETSI IPR Policy and that the defendants had not.
- Daingean v. T-Mobile. Secured a patent defense verdict as lead counsel on behalf of T-Mobile in a dispute against Daingean Technologies for alleged infringement of a 5G telecommunications patent.
- Daingean v. AT&T. Secured a defense verdict for AT&T as lead counsel in a patent infringement case brought by Daingean Technologies—Nick’s second consecutive trial win against Daingean.
- HTC v. Ericsson. Represented Ericsson in a dispute over FRAND terms for a license to cellular essential patents. In February 2019, Nick presented and cross-examined witnesses in a five-day trial resulting in an important win for Ericsson. The jury found that Ericsson’s offers of $2.50 per 4G device, or 1% of the net device price with a $1 floor and $4 cap, did not breach Ericsson’s FRAND commitment. Following the verdict, the Court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law in connection with Ericsson’s request for a declaratory judgment that it complied with FRAND. The declaration affirmed the jury’s findings and conclusively rejected HTC’s efforts to require Ericsson to license its cellular patents as a percentage of the profit margin, or cost, of a baseband processor.
- Lenovo v. Ericsson (ITC). Lead counsel for Ericsson in defending a Section 337 investigation at the U.S. International Trade Commission in which Lenovo asserted cellular standard-essential patents. District court counsel in various associated FRAND and patent matters.
- Empire Technologies v. AT&T. Lead counsel for AT&T and intervenors Ericsson and Nokia in a patent infringement suit brought by Empire Technologies against AT&T.
- Florida State University v. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Lead counsel for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in a consolidated patent infringement suit brought by Florida State University in the Northern District of Florida.
- Headwater v. AT&T. Represented AT&T as lead counsel in a series of infringement suits brought by Headwater in the Eastern District of Texas involving dozens of patents related to policy and device management.
- Headwater v. Comcast. Represented Comcast as lead counsel in a series of infringement suits brought by Headwater in the Eastern District of Texas involving dozens of patents related to policy and device management.
- QuanteFi v. Comcast. Representing Comcast as lead counsel in a four-patent infringement suit brought by QuanteFi in the Eastern District of Texas.
- Ericsson. Represented Ericsson in a global patent infringement at the International Trade Commission and in district court regarding standard-essential and implementation patents related to LTE wireless technology. Tried Ericsson’s FRAND claims to a jury in the Eastern District of Texas; the case settled favorably after four days of trial.
- IP Bridge v. Ericsson. Represented Ericsson as lead counsel in a seven-patent standard-essential patent dispute brought by IP Bridge.
- Sol IP v. Ericsson. Represented Ericsson in a patent infringement action involving 20 patents related to LTE wireless technology.
- University of Minnesota v. Ericsson. Represented Ericsson in a patent infringement action involving five patents related to LTE wireless technology.
- Nokia. Represented Nokia in two district court cases and one ITC case relating to patent infringement of eight H.264 standard-essential patents and 10 wireless implementation patents, and defense of breach of RAND and unfair competition allegations.
- Ericsson v. Samsung. Member of the trial team that represented Ericsson in its patent infringement dispute against Samsung, including proceedings at the ITC and litigation in district court regarding a number of standard-essential and implementation patents related to LTE, WCDMA, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and 802.11 wireless technology.
- Ericsson v. TCL. Represented Ericsson in matters involving patent infringement and a dispute over FRAND terms for a license relating to LTE, WCDMA, and GSM technologies. In December 2017, Nick presented and cross-examined witnesses in a four-day trial in the Eastern District of Texas that resulted in a finding of willful infringement and a jury award of $75 million for Ericsson. After trial, the Court enhanced the verdict, resulting in a judgment of more than $110 million.
- Norred v. Medtronic. Defended Medtronic in a patent infringement lawsuit related to aortic valves. Obtained a stay of the district court litigation based on IPR petitions that had been filed but not yet instituted.
- Unwired Planet. Represented Unwired Planet in a patent infringement dispute related to wireless internet technologies.
- Rockstar Consortium v. Google/Samsung. Represented Rockstar Consortium in a patent infringement suit against Google, Samsung, and others involving a number of patents related to mobile handset technology.
Rankings & Honors
- Ranked in Chambers USA as a leading intellectual property lawyer. The 2026 edition states that "Nicholas is an excellent oral advocate."
- Ranked by IAM Patent 1000 as Gold in Texas for patent litigation (2022–2026)
- Named to the IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists (2024–2026)
- Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2026)
- Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Global IP Lawyers (2026)
- Named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Plaintiff Lawyers (2024)
- Ranked as a Commercial and Intellectual Property "Litigation Star" by Benchmark Litigation (2026)
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America for Patent Litigation (2022–2027)
- Named to the list of Dallas Super Lawyers (2026)
- Recognized as an "IP Star" by Managing IP
- Recognized as a leading lawyer in Patent Litigation by The Legal 500 (2021–2022)
- Named among those "Recommended" in World IP Review’s USA Patent Rankings (2024, 2025)
- Named among the Top Most Active and Performing Attorneys Representing Complainants by the Patexia ITC Intelligence Report (2024–2026)
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- Indiana University - 2009 Juris Doctor
- Villanova University - 2005 Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering
Admissions:
- District of Columbia Bar
- Illinois Bar
- Texas Bar
Clerkships:
- USDC, Eastern District of Texas, Hon. J. Rodney Gilstrap, 2012 - 2013